Journalist's 1976 killing carries San Diego ties
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Don Bolles' Datsun in the parking lot of Phoenix's Clarendon Hotel after the 1976 car bombing that took his life. Photo courtesy of the Phoenix Police Department
San Diego was a recurring character in the story of the 1976 assassination of Arizona Republic investigative reporter Don Bolles.
The big picture: Bolles' murder is chronicled in the new book "Murder in the Fourth Estate" by Axios Phoenix reporter Jeremy Duda, who dives deep into the case for the first time.
Flashback: Bolles was lured to Phoenix's Clarendon Hotel in June 1976 by John Adamson, who would later plead guilty to killing Bolles.
- Adamson had promised to produce a source from San Diego who had evidence of political corruption.
- But he called off the meeting, and a dynamite bomb exploded underneath Bolles' car as he backed out of his parking space.
- Adamson later testified that a Phoenix contractor, Max Dunlap, had hired him to kill Bolles over his coverage of Phoenix liquor magnate Kemper Marley and that a plumber named Jimmy Robison had detonated and helped build the bomb.
Adamson bought the radio device used to detonate the bomb from a shop called West Coast Hobbies in Convoy during a trip to San Diego with a girlfriend.
- They stayed at the Kings Inn Motel and drank at a bar called the Iron Maiden in Clairemont.
- He also hung out with an associate known as "San Diego Ralph," whom the girlfriend said they met up with at one point at an area resort.
- The resort, now known as the Omni La Costa in Carlsbad, was a destination for Hollywood's elite, political figures and pro golfers at the time.
The intrigue: Though Bolles' investigating Marley was ostensibly the reason Dunlap wanted Bolles killed, Adamson later told investigators that Dunlap said they needed to stop a story the reporter was about to start working on.
- On the day of the bombing, Adamson said Dunlap told him that "the people in San Diego" would be glad to hear about it and that Bolles was planning to go to the city to investigate shady bank deposits or something similar.
Adamson took a plea deal and testified against Dunlap and Robison, who were convicted in 1977 and sentenced to death, but their convictions were overturned a few years later.
- Adamson was convicted in 1980, but his death sentence was overturned as well.
- Dunlap and Robison were charged again with Bolles' murder and went to trial separately in 1993. Dunlap was convicted and Robison was acquitted.
The bottom line: Despite the many roads leading to San Diego, investigators found no plot emanating from there, despite the city's many ties to the case.